One doesn’t need to be introduced to the Tamil song christened Enjoy Enjaami. After all, Dhee and Arivu’s increasingly catchy track has become nothing short of a phenomenon. In terms of its lyrical and thematic elements, the song is pretty profound, to say the least. The central narrative is around being one with the nature that people arise from, while also touching upon the trials and tribulations that bonded labourers from marginalised castes have undergone over the years. 

Rapper Arivu, who, as it is, is a noted member of The Casteless Collective, has never shied away from crafting music that brims with political overtones. For Enjoy Enjaami, his lyrics also have a personal angle as it’s dedicated to his grandmother Valliammal, who herself was a tea plantation worker at her young age. 

Dhee also surprises with her peppy, upbeat vocals. While the Sri Lankan Tamil playback singer has lent her voice on several film tracks, Enjoy Enjaami serves as her first official studio single, and needless to say, it’s quite a promising debut. 

Despite the aforementioned socially-relevant themes, Enjoy Enjaami brims with self-confidence. It evokes a history of trauma and oppression but it can also be interpreted as a call for a better future, where the pressed can reclaim the resources snatched from them. The chorus that can roughly be translated to, ‘Enjoy my dear, come together as one’ again evokes this hope. This is perhaps evident from Amith Krishnan’s vibrantly-framed video too that’s ends with a group of local resident elders sitting on cane chairs with the bravado of monarchs resting on their throne. 

While Dhee’s vocals are on point and boast of her playback experience (especially her vocalising before the final chorus), it’s a few portions of Arivu’s verses that seem to brim with a heartbreaking rawness. The throaty interludes in his fast-paced delivery are arguably one of the best parts of the song apart from the hook. 

And of course, supplementing all of this is Santhosh Narayanan’s production. The song starts off with a highly tropical-sounding mood that proceeds to acquire a more dramatic tone towards the end. All in all, Narayan deserves a pat on his back for the ambient fusion supplemented with a few Afro-Caribbean influences. 

Verdict: Hard-hitting, snappy, and anything but monotonous.